Henry… 

With a deep breath, Henry rejoined the waking world as he felt the gravity of bad dreams leave his chests. The night had been colder than he expected, for he felt the familiar pain of his left cheek. He brought his hand to his face and gently massaged it, firmly applying pressure to the spots that hadn’t healed after all the years. When he was satisfied, Henry deeply inhaled the cool morning air, stretching his arms above his head. He felt the joints of his shoulders and neck pop and his muscles strained until they finally relaxed. Henry laid there, listening. He heard the TV streaming a cartoon and the sound of the kitchen sink running. The occasional clack of dishes in the process of being cleaned echoed softly. A faint scent of recently cooked food drifted in the air.

Guess the kids are up…

Henry laid on his futon, slowly breathing in and exhaling a few times.

Get up or see if I can get a little more sleep?

The cerebral assistant feeding images and sounds to his brain answered the question.

Good Morning, MR._BUCK_LEY. This is your SIX_THIR_TY alarm. Would you like to “SNOOZE” or turn off this alarm? 

The message began looping.

Off. Off! OFF!

Thank you. Have a good day, MR._BUCK_LEY!

Bite me.

Oh, what a joker! You know I don’t have a physical mouth.

Why’d I get the assistant with the AI personality?

Henry sighed.

I did say I’d walk the kids to school today, huh… 

With a groan, Henry sat up and opened his eyes. He saw a few application icons in the corner of his vision before they faded from sight. He could hear the kids whispering to each other on the other side of his bedroom curtains. Taking another deep breath, he threw the comforter off himself and the small pocket of warm air underneath dissipated. He shivered. Even for autumn, the air was too cold.

Need to adjust the thermostat. Way too cold. Kids’ll get sick.

With a few grunts and popped joints, Henry got to his feet and headed for his closet. Sliding the door open, he quickly retrieved an undershirt and pair of work pants. The undershirt tightly clung to his body, but his fur was so thick and fluffy that it greatly exaggerated his physique, and to his annoyance, the size of his belly. With a few tugs, he pulled up his stiff work pants, pushed his tail through the appropriate loop, and zipped the front. Bracing for the brighter lights of the living room, Henry opened his bedroom curtains. He squinted for a moment as his regular eye adjusted, but he was soon met with the eyes of a little girl staring up at him from a low table in the center of the living room.

Her name was Chicory, and she was a tiny fluff ball of a girl. Barely 5 years old and just taller than Henry’s knees. She was like Henry in that her fur always seemed to be upright, causing it to always poke out a great deal around the opening of any article of clothing she wore. Today, she was wearing a sky blue kurta set her aunt gave her recently. The patterns on it resemble fluffy white clouds. Her large amber eyes twinkled with excitement upon seeing him and Henry could see her floppy ears perk up as her tail wagged too.

“Mornin’, Daddy!” With a smile, Henry navigated the menagerie of throw pillows scattered around the living room and crouched down beside her.

“Mornin’, Pumpkin.” He ruffled her fur a little bit before giving her a quick kiss on top of her head. “How’re you today? Sleep well?” Chicory excitedly bobbed her head up and down, ears bobbing with her.

“Great! I got up on time without Rowan’s help today!”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah! You pinky promised you were walking with us to school today!”

“Yep, that’s the plan…” A message notification popped up in the corner of Henry’s vision. It was from Gerald, his boss.

I swear to fuckin’ god. 

Henry turned away from Chicory.

BOSS: Henry. Need at office. U on pat?

ME: Not yet. Taking kids to school

BOSS: Need you here ASAP. Got a new recruit

ME: Ok, after kids at school

BOSS: I would prefer now

I bet you fuckin’ would.

ME: Gerald, do you know about the sanctity of the pinky promise?

BOSS:The fuck are you talking about? Get to the office! NOW!

ME: I made a pinky promise to my little girl, Gerald. I have never broken a pinky promise.

BOSS: Well, there’s a first time for everything! Get your ass over here!

ME: You’re right, but today ain’t gonna be that day. See ya when I get there.

Mute “BOSS” for 1 hour. 

Henry sighed.

Oh boy, he’s gonna be pissed.  

He turned back to Chicory. She already looked heartbroken. Her floppy ears drooped more than normal.

“Okay, good to go! Let’s get ready!” The overly joyous energy of the girl burst forth as she tightly hugged Henry. Her tail wagged wildly, nearly batting Henry in the face.

“I know you promised her, but if you need to go for work, we can go without you.” Henry turned toward the boy speaking to him from the kitchen. His name was Rowan, and he was Chicory’s older brother. He was surprisingly tall for a 12 year old of his pedigree, but his dad was pretty tall himself. Rowan and Chicory had mixed features thanks to their parents being “Leonberger” and “Doberman” canoids. Both of them had brown and black fur, but almost all of Rowan’s head was black with some brown on the tips of his ears and on his neck, while Chicory mostly had brown fur with only her snout, eyes and ears having black. The kid always looked sullen, with his sunken eyes that were dark brown and narrow. He was also wearing the kurta set his aunt had given him, although his was dark gray with green embroidery that resembled leaves. 

“Everything’s fine.” Henry nodded toward Rowan. “Lookin’ sharp, Champ.” Rowan shrugged and turned around to keep working in the kitchen. It seemed like he was preparing lunches for him and Chicory.

“It was Chicky’s idea.”

“Yeah! It was my idea!” Henry approvingly patted Chicory on the head.

“And I’m sure Aunt Lily will love it.” Chicory gave a large grin. Her smile was missing a few baby teeth. “Okay, let me finish getting ready and we’ll head out.” Henry got up and headed for the kitchen beside Rowan. “Any chance there are some leftovers…” Rowan pointed to his left where a masala omelet rested on a plate. Henry gave the boy a few loving pats on the shoulder. “You’re always a lifesaver, Champ.”

“Uh-huh.” Henry reached over Rowan and grabbed the plate, quickly scarfing down the omelet before heading for the bathroom. 

Grabbing the worn navy toothbrush from the pink plastic cup resting on the corner of the sink, Henry quickly grabbed some powder from an adjacent ceramic “Cow” bowl and sprinkled it over the bristles. He stuck the brush under his muzzle and began brushing the rows of his carnivorous teeth, occasionally getting caught on an odd chipped section of tooth. Looking in the mirror, Henry studied his features. He was a “Leonberger,” with the kids’ “Doberman” side coming from their mom. Chicory had her mother’s narrow snout, while Rowan had his mother’s short fur and eyes. Henry’s eyes traced the edge of his short ear to the series of horizontal scars on the left side of his face, leading back to his eye. The faint red tint of its pupil betrayed its artificial nature. Gray hairs were beginning to peek through his thick coat around his eyes and muzzle.

Could be worse.

Turning on the automatic sink, Henry collected some water in his cupped hand and brought it to his mouth. The water from this sink had an odd flavor from whatever chemicals were used by the salinization facility to treat the sea water. The landlord had assured him that the building had its own filter and the water was completely safe, but Henry wasn’t entirely convinced. He figured as long as they didn’t swallow it or boiled it first, they’d probably be fine. Henry swished the water around in his mouth before spitting into the rust-stained sink.

“Daddy, we’re gonna be late!”

“Just a sec, Pumpkin!” Henry left the bathroom and headed to the rack by the door. Chicory excitedly bobbed up and down next to him, her ears and school bag bobbing with her. Rowan calmly stood beside the door to the apartment; the thermostat sat on the wall just behind his head. “Oh right.” Henry began heading over to inspect it, but Rowan spoke up.

“It’s locked.”

“Locked?”

“Yeah. You’re late with rent.”

“No I’m not…” Henry quickly pulled up his transaction receipts. It had been more than a month since the last time he paid rent. He quickly forwarded a payment. “Okay, I guess I am late.” 

“Maybe setting up auto-pay would be better for you.” 

Pondering Rowan’s suggestion, Henry quickly slipped on his boots and put on his under-arm holster. He then grabbed a thick belt off the rack and fed it through the loops of his pants before locking the end clasps together. After giving it a quick tug to make sure it was secure, he parted the coats on the rack to access the wall safe hidden behind them. Tapping the keypad of the safe to get it to turn on, Henry quickly entered the passcode, loudly beeping with each button press. With a loud clunk, the bolts disengaged and the door opened with a loud squeak. Henry reached inside for the small firearm beside a tiny box, both of which were sitting on top of a plastic folder labeled “KIDS’ DOCS” with various papers poking out. The firearm was a semi-automatic nanite buster, comparable to a standard human 9mm pistol in size. With all the grafted people running around town, Henry felt it was a better investment than a traditional handgun since the buster could disable grafts and the rounds acted like short duration tasers in a pinch. Shoving the pistol into his holster, Henry knew it was secure when he heard a metallic click. Pushing the safe door close, it beeped loudly again and the bolts grinded into place as they were re-engaged. Grabbing a burgundy jacket from the rack, Henry slipped it on and took Chicory’s hand.

“Alright, let’s go! Gotta get ya to school on time!”

Rowan opened the apartment door and Henry led Chicory into the hallway of their apartment building. Her tiny pink galoshes squeaked with each step she took on the shiny linoleum tile floor while Henry’s boots loudly clopped against it. To Henry's left, the brightly lit hallway extended down a few more apartments before ending with a staircase and a defunct elevator. The umber paint on the walls was old and had been patched in places, but it was clean and there were no cobwebs to be found.  When Henry had chatted with Jay the landlord about the building over a few beers, Jay had told him that the building had been part of a high-end apartment complex before the 1st Americas Intercontinental War. Jay seemed to have a lot of pride in the building, talking about the people that had lived there in its heyday, the special care he needed to maintain the facilities, and his aspirations to get the building back to its former glory. Henry only cared about the fact it was well maintained, it had decent security systems, it was close to the kids’ school, and the rent wasn’t as high as the other places near the neutral district. 

With a tiny click, Rowan pulled the door shut and used his slide-pin key to lock it. The three then headed to the right, out toward the front entrance. There was a small lobby at the entrance that had a mosaic of a pink dolphin leaping above a cresting wave surrounded by a ring of text saying “PINK DOLPHIN DOWNTOWN LUXURY LIVING.” Jay had loved the name and decided to keep it, but Henry thought it was a mouthful, so he just called it the “Puddle.” There were two sets of mailboxes in the lobby: the real one and the old ones. Jay had to have the old ones sealed because they would get broken into since they opened from the outside too. They were broken into either by thieves, drug dealers wanting to hide their stash, or people scrounging for anything to help get them by. Now, Jay has any mail come in one big bundle that he and his wife sort through. Sometimes that means mail gets delayed while Jay holds it, but most of the tenants just let Jay know it’s okay to leave any packages outside their door. With Henry’s line of work, he always asks Jay to hold packages for him, just in case. There was also a desk with some seats where Jay normally sat, keeping an eye on the security cameras or crunching numbers, but there was a sign in his place saying “Back in 10 minutes.”

“Aw, I wanted to show Jay our clothes!” Chicory pouted. “Can we wait for him to come back?”

“Pumpkin, he lives here. We can show him any time.” Chicory gasped and her eyes widened with the revelation Henry had bestowed upon her. He couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Alright, come on. No more dilly dallying.” 

Walking across the lobby, the trio made it to the front set of reinforced double metal doors with metal shutters covering their reinforced glass. There were tiny chips and cracks in the glass, but the doors were solid and were held in place by a series of powerful electromagnets. Henry’s grafts made him weary of the magnets, but he figured it wasn’t actually strong enough to damage them, or rip them out if he got too close. Beside the door was a large red button that Henry pressed and the hum of the electromagnets stopped, allowing Rowan to pull open one of the doors. Chicory and Henry quickly stepped over the threshold and Rowan followed suit. As the door closed behind them, the hum returned and the door immediately pulled into place.